The Move: Part 1
by tenjounotora
Summary: A year after their mother's death Alan and his brothers are taken away from their home and on to their next great adventure with their father on Tracy Island.


The Move: Part 1

Alan was crying, big wet tears were falling down his small round face as he hid behind the curtains in the living room.

This was quite the contrast to the happy toddler from the night before. For some reason that Alan wasn't worried why Grandma Tracy had suddenly said that they could run around the house and play. So, Alan had run, laughed, and giggled as he chased and was chased by each of his brothers. They played tag, hide and seek, and other games that had, till then, been solely outside games. Then their father showed up with pizza and cola and they ate and laughed some more. Gordon had bet Alan that he could eat an entire pizza on his own, and he about had till their grandma caught on and wouldn't let him have any more.

It had started to get dark out and their father had turned on a few of the camping lanterns they had to make it seem more like some strange, fun camping trip they were on. Scott, Virgil, and John took turns reading from their favorite books while Alan and Gordon tried to act out what was going on.

They had finally gone to sleep in sleeping bags on the living room floor—though Gordon and Alan had both abandoned their own beds to curl up with their older brothers.

However, The mood the next morning was drastically different and the toddler hadn't quite understood what was going on.

He and his brothers had been standing outside, waiting by the car. As they stood there Alan was starting to realize just what was happening. He looked from his brothers to the car and then to the house. Each moment they stood there the more scared he got. Scott had been holding his hand, but let go to help their father with something and Alan took that opportunity to sneak back into the house.

The curtain he was hiding behind was the only thing left in the living room. His dad's chair was gone. The couch he'd sit on with his brothers wasn't there either. Even the toys they kept in the corner of the room were gone. The toys in his room were gone too, as was his bed and his posters. Everything was gone from inside the house except the curtains.

They had been talking about going on an adventure, exploring a jungle, playing on a beach, and swimming with the fish. It was just like one of the books his brothers read to them. It had sounded amazing and it was all Alan could think about.

That was until he had realized that they would never be going home again.

"Scott, I found him."

Alan sniffed and looked up as the curtain was pulled aside.

"Hey, what are you doing here?" John squatted down in front of him and reached out to wipe the wetness from his cheeks.

Alan pulled himself into a tighter ball and buried his face in his knees. His voice was thick as he sniffed and wiped at his nose. "I don't wanna go."

"Why? I thought you were excited about our adventure. It's all you've been talking about for weeks."

"I wanna play outside, see stars! I-I wanna ride Stardust with Mamaw."

"Well, we'll be able to see stars from our new home and we'll find new places to play. But I'm afraid Stardust is going to a new owner. Remember Mamaw and Papaw aren't going to be taking care of the horses anymore."

"But why? I like it here!" Alan looked up at his brother his lower lip slightly out. "Don't you like it?"

"I—" John looked away and at the empty room they were in. He took in a deep breath and sighed. "This place—It reminds me too much of Mom."

"But Mama makes you happy. I wanna know about Mama more!" Alan looked back down. He had mixed feelings about their mother. It had only been a year since her death, but he was already quickly forgetting what little he remembered about her. "Don't you want to remember her?"

"It's not—" John ran a hand through his hair and stood up, letting the curtain fall back into place.

"John, what's taking so long? Dad's ready to go."

Alan buried his head back down in his knees. He wasn't crying anymore, but he was still scared and very confused.

There was a bit of silence in the room and then a small sniffle that did not come from Alan. He heard some mumbling from Scott and then footsteps as one of them left. The curtain was then lifted again and Scott squatted down next to him. "Hey."

Alan peeked up at his brother his lip still trembling a little. "I don't understand."

Scott nodded and settled down on the floor. "What don't you understand?"

"Why we leaving?"

"Because Dad found us a new home."

"Why?"

Scott took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Because it's time. We have a lot of good memories here, but right now there are more sad ones and sometimes it hurts to think of them."

"Because Mama?"

"Yeah." Scott opened his arms inviting Alan to come into his lap.

Alan hesitated a little, but it was hard to resist and crawled into his brother's embrace burying his face in his chest.

"We all loved Mom, a lot. We miss her. Being here reminds us that she's gone and never coming back."

Alan could feel Scott nuzzle the top of his head a little.

"A new home will help us to move on."

"You wanna forget about Mama?"

"No, never." Scott squeezed Alan a little. "And anyways, this house belongs to us. If we really want to come back, we can. But right now we need to do what is best for the family and moving I think is the right thing to do right now."

Alan was quiet for a moment. He still wasn't sure he understood, but he trusted his brother and knew he wouldn't lie to him. He looked up and forced a small smile. "Family stays together?"

"Right." Scott smiled a little himself and wiped a little bit of wetness from his eyes. "So, are you ready to start our adventure?"

Alan's smile faltered and then disappeared. "I'm still scared."

"That's okay. I think we all are, but as long as we're together we can do anything."

Alan gave his brother another squeeze and then crawled off of his lap and stood. "I'm ready. I think."

Scott nodded and stood himself. He held out his hand and Alan took it letting him lead him from the room and back outside.

"About time, I almost sent in the cavalry to find you." Their father was leaning on the top of the car a smile wide on his face.

"You can't do that, Dad!" Gordon put his hands on his hips and looked up at him. "You gave Uni and Starry to Mr. Dell. Plus Mom said the horses were never allowed in the house, even for cookies."

Their father chuckled as he pushed away from the car. "I do hope she told you that before you tried."

"Opie was only half way in the house." Gordon shrugged as he climbed into the car and sat down in his booster seat.

Scott lifted Alan into his own seat, buckling him down before squeezing past him to sit in the middle between his two youngest brothers.

"Everyone ready?" Their father was behind the wheel, their grandma in the passenger seat, and Virgil and John were packed in the back with their luggage. "You okay, Allie?"

Alan nodded, but didn't look at his dad. "Yeah."

Scott reached up and squeezed his knee a little. "He just realized that we aren't coming back for awhile."

"It's not the first time we've moved. We've only been here for a little over a year."

"Jeff. This is the only home Alan can remember. Need I remind you the first time you moved with Scott and Virgil? They weren't exactly excited either."

Their father sighed but kept a small smile. He reached back and tugged on the toe of Alan's shoe. "Hey, I promised this was going to be an adventure and it will be. Plus, we'll be back here eventually. I have plans for this place—assuming all five of your approve. It is yours after all."

A small smile creeped onto Alan's lips and he nodded.

"Alright. Let the adventure begin."

Alan strained in his seat to watch the old house disappear as they went under the gate with the ranch's name. When he could no longer see it he settled back in his seat and looked up at his biggest brother. "Scotty, what can we do at the new home?"

His brother looked down at him with a smile. "Well, we'll probably either sleep, or explore the new house first. Maybe even a bit of both."

"I'm going to explore." Gordon was bouncing a little in his seat. "I bet Dad's built all kinds of hidden rooms and I'm going to find all of them."

"If you can find all the hidden rooms, I'll promote you to oldest."

"Second oldest. Scott is too serious, I couldn't do that."

"Oh, and you think being the second eldest is easy do you?" Virgil reached over and ruffled Gordon's hair.

"I'd be better at it than you!"

Alan couldn't help but laugh at his brothers' banter. If they were going on some adventure, he was glad they were all going together.

It didn't take them long to reach their destination—at least the first of a few before they reached their new home. It was a small airfield, only a couple planes sitting by one of the two hangers on the grounds. Their father pulled up next to the planes and parked the car.

Alan was already trying to undo his seatbelt when Scott reached over and helped him finish.

"Are we flying now?"

"Yep, we're taking Grandma's plane to California. Then we're changing to a new plane Dad bought."

"Is it faster?"

"I don't know, I haven't seen it, but I'm thinking it's going to be really neat." Scott picked Alan up out of his seat and onto the packed earth of the field.

"Scott, I need you over here, let your brothers help with the luggage."

"Allie, go get your things and help Virg."

"Okay!" Alan had his smile back. The knowledge they were going to be flying made him practically forget what had made him upset earlier.

He made his way to the back where Virgil was helping their grandma pull out the luggage. Alan took his rocket shaped backpack, a stuffed alien he had somehow gotten attached to, and then grabbed the end of one of the sleeping bags they had used the previous night and dragged it behind him to the plane where John was taking things and packing them away in the back.

"Allie, why don't you come on up and help?" John held out his hands and took Alan by his lifting him straight up and into the plane.

Alan giggled as he swung his legs back in forth so he could get his feet on the edge of the doorway. He helped John—mainly just following his motions and copying what he did—as they loaded up the plane.

His grandmother brought the last two things—his seat and Gordon's booster seat—and they were both strapped in as the others climbed in and took their own seats. It was only a minute or so later that Scott pulled himself into the plane followed by his father. Scott took the co-pilot seat and had started to strap himself in, but glanced up when his father hadn't taken his seat.

"I think you'll find you're in the wrong seat Scott."

"I get to fly?" Scott's eyes were big and his smile about to burst.

"You've still got to get a few hours in before you get your license and we'll need you to be able to fly to the mainland if I'm not available."

Alan smiled at the enthusiasm Scott was suddenly showing. "Scotty's flying!"

"Don't crash Scott! I'd like to get home in one piece!" Gordon cackled as their eldest changed seats in front of them.

"Plus it will give you practice with the peanut gallery back there." Their father chuckled a little as he strapped himself in.

Scott just ignored everything as he pulled on his headset and started up the plane. The others were dead silent as the plane taxied and Scott asked for permission and clearance to take flight. They had flown enough times with their father to know that the pilot needed to concentrate on what they were doing going up and coming down from the sky.

Once at altitude and on their way Gordon started up with his plans. "After I find all the hidden rooms I'm gonna go swimming in the pool and then go down to he beach."

"Gordon, no going to the beach on your own. Your grandma or me need to be with you."

"Awww, why?"

Their father turned around to face his family. "This goes for everyone right now. The jungle around the villa is dense and you can easily get lost in it and the currents around the island can be quite strong and unpredictable. The last thing we want is for one of you to get lost or get sucked into a lava tube by the currents. Not until I am sure you understand the risks and know how to deal with both issues you are not to leave the house alone. At the very least Scott needs to go with you, though I trust he knows well enough not to go until he understands how to navigate the island as well."

There was a chorus of 'yes, father' from everyone on board. A pause and then Alan looked up at his father. "What's a lava tube?"

"John, you want to take that one?" Their father smiled as he turned back around in his seat.

Alan looked up and strained to look behind him at his brother, but his seat was just too bulky to allow him to do that. But John had leaned forward a little so he could be heard.

"You know about volcano's right? Well, the lava doesn't just come out of the top. Sometimes it comes out of the sides creating its own tubes to escape into the ocean."

"We're living next to a volcano?" Alan's eyes widened as he looked over at Gordon who shared the shock a little.

"Cool!"

"It's not an active one. Dad made sure it was dormant before building the house."

"What's a-door-ment?" Alan asked frowning a little. He really hated not knowing as much as his brothers, but he did like learning from them.

"Dormant." John enunciated the word correcting Alan. "It means that the volcano's dead. It will never erupt again."

"Aww, that would have been really cool."

"It would have also killed you, fish." Virgil laughed as he looked up over his sketch pad, a smile across his face.

"Maybe, but it still would have been cool."

Alan giggled at his brothers as they laughed. Their grandma handed them their gaming pads and Alan and Gordon spent the rest of the flight playing games.

The plane they were flying in was actually one of their grandma's old ones. Their father had kept it going, loving the way the old plane felt when he flew it. However, it was not very fuel efficient and took longer for them to get where they were going than a newer one would have.

As it was, it was just over three hours later that they were finally making their approach into a small airport on the outskirts of Los Angeles. Small was a bit relative. To Alan it seemed huge. It was a public airport like the one they had left from, but the runways were all paved and there were no less than a dozen or two hangers crowded along one side. There was an actual air traffic tower as well and Alan ignored his game as Scott started talking to the person inside the tower to arrange their landing.

The flight and landing were all text book and their father congratulated Scott with a firm hand on his shoulder. Alan watched as they taxied up to a hanger. Their father and Virgil climbed out of the plane and ran over to open the doors to the hanger so Scott could park the plane inside.

The hanger was huge, bigger than the one they had near the ranch. There was a good reason too, the hanger at the ranch only held two small planes—the one they were in and a smaller two person one that his older borthers did most of their flying lessons in. This hanger had space for the their grandma's plane and a larger, sleeker one that sat next to it.

Virgil had gone right over to it after the doors had been opened and was already walking around it and admiring it. As soon as the plane was shut down, and everyone was out, they had joined him.

"Jeff, how in the world did you afford something like this on top of the island?" Their grandma had her hands on her hips, but it was easy to tell she was just as impressed with the plane as her grandsons.

"It's a corporate plane. Belongs to Tracy Industries to get the higher ups to where they need to go—aka get me to the office once in a while." Their father laughed as he petted the plane like it was some kind of pet. "We've got two of them. One for everyone else and this one for me. It'll be our main link to and from the island which means everyone will need to learn how to fly her. She's a little different than the props you're used to."

"Man, even I'm excited to learn how to fly this thing, I'm surprised Scott's stayed as quiet—" Virgil looked around, his eyebrows lowering a little. "Where is Scott?"

"He's inside." Alan was sitting on the small set of stairs that had appeared when Scott had opened the hatch to the plane. "Come see. It's awesome!"

Alan stood and made his way up the stairs and into the plane. He was quickly followed by everyone else. There was murmurings of approval of the interior but Alan didn't pay attention as he made his way to the cockpit and tried to crawl up in the co-pilot seat.

Scott laughed and turned to help his brother.

"Scotty, you going to fly?"

Scott laughed a little as he relaxed back in the chair. "No, I honestly don't know how to fly this thing. I mean, I could probably figure it out, but I'd want some practice before going up with everyone with me." He reached over and ruffled Alan's hair bit. "Come on, let's go get the luggage moved so we can get going."

Alan smiled and allowed his brother to pick him up and set him back down on his feet before he led the way back into the cabin. It was empty now, and he found everyone at the other plane already working on unloading it.

It didn't take long for them to move their things from one plane to the other and then to get settled in the much more plush jet. Alan and Gordon both pleaded for window seats, but there was enough to go around so there really wasn't much of an argument.

Alan and Gordon both let out whoops of joy as the plane took off at speeds they had never experienced before. They were excited and peered out of the window watching the land quickly disappear behind them. Once there was nothing but ocean in sight they started to get antsy and their grandma let them stand and wander around the plane a bit.

This flight took about as long as the previous one, even though they covered a much farther distance. Their brother's voice came on through the speakers and told everyone to look out the windows. The plane banked and suddenly an island was right there.

"That's home?" Alan's eyes and smile were wide.

"Look at that pool!" Gordon squealed as he jumped up and down.

"Your father sure has outdone himself on this one." Their grandma was smiling as well. "Alright, everyone in your seats. I'm sure they're wanting to land as much as we are."

Alan tried his best to climb into his, but needed a brother's help, and once he was settled Virgil helped him buckle in. Scott's voice came on once again to give them warning that they were starting their landing procedures. The plane banked a couple of more times lining up with the runway. The plane was pointing down a bit more than normal, but then brought up again and a moment later a bump and the squealing of the tires could be heard.

They all strained to see where the plane was going to park and strangely instead of just going straight ahead, it veered off to a small door in the side of the mountain. This door opened automatically and they made their way in."

Scott appeared in the cabin just as the plane stopped and the engines had been turned off. "Dad said that he doesn't quite have the elevator up to the main house going yet so we're going to take the stairs along the outside. Everyone needs to grab as much as they can so we can limit the number of trips, there's quite a few steps apparently."

There was some grumbling but everyone filed out of the plane and started loading up their arms with whatever they could carry. Alan had his rocket backpack on again and his grandma had stuffed his toy between him and his backpack so he could use both hands to carry—or rather drag—one of the sleeping bags.

The trek to the house was a long one and Alan eventually sat down tired and annoyed at the steps. John and Virgil both passed him laughing a little, but when Scott got to him he made him stand and get going again.

He hadn't been far from the top and when the house finally came into view and a smile blossomed onto his lips. "Cool!"

"I'm glad you like it." His father had been right behind him and pushed him forward some more.

Alan sped up to a trot and made his way up to the bottom level where the kitchen was, dropped the sleeping bag and made a beeline up the stairs. He ran around the lounge a little and then made his way out onto the deck that overlooked the pool a little.

"Daddy! This is awesome!"

"Just be careful up there."

"Jeff, shouldn't you have put a railing up? If anything to keep Gordon from diving into the pool from up there?"

"I thought about it, but decided against it for various reasons. The boys will just have to learn not to try."

Alan looked up and suddenly Gordon was next to him smiling just as wide as he was. "Let's go explore the rest of the house. We gotta find our rooms!"

Alan jumped to his feet and followed his brother into the mountain. They came across a game room, a library, and a theater as they made their way up the stairs to the upper levels.

They finally came to the row of doors that were their rooms and started opening all the doors looking for what would be their rooms.

Alan for the most part just followed Gordon into each of the rooms, barely looking at them before leaving them again.

"This is definitely my room." Gordon flopped down on the bed and looked up at the fish that were painted on the ceiling.

Alan climbed up and flopped down on top of him. "Where's my bed?"

Gordon laughed a little. "In your room probably."

"Who do I sleep with?" Alan was so used to sharing rooms with his brothers he expected nothing else in the new home.

"Just you and your alien. Come on, it's probably next door." Gordon sat up and took Alan's hand.

They went to the next room down. The bed was shaped like a rocket and there were planets and stars on the walls and ceiling. Alan was excited at seeing his bed and jumped into it immediately.

They didn't have long to explore their rooms before their father's voice came over some hidden speakers calling them back down to the kitchen. Gordon made it down first, but only because Alan was still slow on going down the stairs, needing to take it one step at a time and hold onto the railing. But he made it soon after and was picked up by his father and sat down at one of the tall chairs at the table.

"Alright, with a new house comes with some new rules." There were a couple of groans around the table, mostly from Gordon, but Alan just had his head in his hands and listened. "During the next few weeks we will be having family meetings learning about the island and how to get around. No one is to go out wandering until we've had these meetings. There aren't many wild animals out there, mainly birds and lizards, but there are some nasty bugs so you need to be able to recognize them and stay away. Understood?"

There was a chorus of yes' before their father continued.

"There is to be no diving into the pool from anywhere other than the side of the pool." Their father was looking directly at Gordon at this comment, and the young boy pouted and sunk down in his chair a little. "There are some huts down by the only stretch of beach on the island. I will be taking you down there so you know where, but no one is to be in the ocean without either myself, your grandma, Scott, or Virgil with you. There are some very unpredictable currents around the island and until we've got them figured out, I don't want you boys getting caught up in them. Is that understood Gordon?"

"Yes, sir." Gordon pouted again as Alan giggled.

"I'll need you three to help me keep an eye on Gordon and Alan. Make sure they don't wander off and get into trouble." He was looking at his three eldest now who nodded. "John, I know you're going to want to find a good stargazing spot, but I'm going to have to ask you to wait a week or so. For now you can do it from the pool deck and if it's late enough the lights in the house will go to night mode so they won't interfere too much."

John nodded but looked a bit down.

"Don't worry. I think I've already got a spot but the path just isn't completely finished, give me time and I promise you won't regret it." Their father then turned to Scott. "There are no established paths for hiking let alone running, so you'll have to be content with the treadmill in the gym for now. Maybe once we've gone through navigation on the island you can help me plan out some paths."

"Yes, I'd like that." Scott was smiling like they all were, excited now that they were there.

"I will be doing a lot of work here on the island, but it is important for you to know that you may not be able to find me if you just go looking. There are these communicators around the house that you can contact me on, that is the easiest and fastest way to find me if you need to. Understood?"

Everyone nodded and mumbled yes.

"Do you have anything else to add Mom?"

"No running in the house like always, last night was special. Otherwise all house rules as before are still in place."

"Alright, I know you might be tired, but we can't go to sleep yet. Got to try and stay up as long as we can. "

"How about we have a quick lunch and then hike down to the huts. Then when we come back we can maybe do something else." Scott was nodding his head toward the pool but Alan didn't quite understand what that meant.

"I think that sounds like a wonderful idea. Virgil, why don't you help me make up some sandwiches."

Virgil jumped from his seat and made it to the kitchen ahead of their grandma and pulled things out of the fully packed fridge.

Sandwiches were quickly made and just as quickly devoured. Everyone helped clean up and soon they were off down a path toward a lower part of the island. It took them over a half hour to get down to the huts, but once down there Alan followed Gordon as he ran through every one of them inspecting them. Only after they had been in all of them did their father lead them down to the beach. He gave everyone another heavy warning to not go into the water, but otherwise allowed them to play with the waves and explore the beach a little. Gordon went into the water as far as he father would let him and Alan shrieked in laughter as he chased and was chased by the small waves while his older brothers wandered the beach exploring while the youngest played.

They stayed down there for over an hour before making their way back up to the house. Once there their father announced that they could get changed and get into the pool. Gordon was the first to disappear but John took Alan's hand and helped him back up the stairs toward their rooms where most of their stuff had been delivered days ahead of them.

John had to help Alan find his trunks, but after about the third box they found them and he helped Alan get changed before going to find his own. While John was busy looking through his things Virgil took Alan down to join the others.

Gordon was already in the pool splashing and diving down into the deep waters. Their grandma stood ready at the edge of the kitchen with sunscreen in hand and stopped them both to apply it before they went out.

Their dad was waiting on him at the edge of the pool with some floats for his arms. Once they were on Alan held his breath and jumped in. He didn't go far down because of the floats so he was above the water again in no time. Gordon had sped up to him and was in his face before he could even wipe his eyes and took his arms encouraging him to kick.

Alan loved swimming with his brothers and once Gordon got tired and wanted to dive around some one of his other brothers would take him and play with him. They eventually got him up on the slide—it was taller than Alan had first thought and scared him a little but Scott was behind him ready to go down with him so he knew it would be alright. Scott counted to three and down they went. The first second scared him but then he let out a squeal of delight right before they hit the water. He came up spluttering a little, Scott right next to him, begging to go again.

They were pulled out of the pool for a dinner of hotdogs and hamburgers. Alan practically inhaled his hotdog and asked for another one, but his second one only got half eaten as the long day finally caught up with him and he found his head drooping with a piece of hotdog halfway to his mouth.

He woke up a little when he smelled his father's cologne and snuggle deeper into his arms. As soon as his head hit the pillow though, he could remember nothing more.

Alan slept hard up until a point. He was tired, it was still dark, but he could not get back to sleep. He pulled his blankets over his head, but that didn't help. It was so quiet in his room, he didn't like it. He was so used to having a brother or two in the room, listening to their breathing and grunts, it helped him feel safe. But with this amount of quiet, it was just impossible to sleep.

Every shadow that danced across the room made him think someone was walking in front of his door. Every creek of the house from the wind outside made him think that everything was going to collapse and fall on him. Sometimes, having an overactive imagination was not a good thing at all.

It took him some time to face the shadows but he finally got out of bed—his alien in hand—and peeked into the hallway. The night sky shone down from above him. There was no moon in the sky which made the hall quite dark, but the stars twinkled and gave Alan a bit of courage.

All the doors around him were dark, but one. The farthest door glowed faintly so he hugged the wall and made his way to it.

He opened the door a crack and found a small light on. Virgil was sitting up in bed with his sketchbook in his lap.

Virgil looked up at the movement in the shadows. "Hey, what are you doing up?" He laid down the book and motioned for Alan to come in.

"I can't sleep." Alan climbed up into his bed and settled himself in Virgil's lap.

"Yeah, me neither." Virgil wrapped his arms around his little brother and squeezed him a little. "So, how do you like the new house?"

Alan shrugged a little. "It's okay. I like the pool."

"Yeah, that pool is pretty nice. Is there something you don't like about being here?"

"Room's too quiet."

Virgil laughed a little at that. "You're telling me you miss Gordon talking in his sleep?"

Alan shrugged his shoulders a little. "He's funny."

"Is that all?"

Alan was quiet for a moment as he cuddled closer to Virgil. "Scared. Don't wanna be alone."

Virgil frowned a little, unsure of where this sudden fear was coming from. "But we're right here. Just next door."

"Mama was next door too."

Virgil's breath got caught in his chest, his throat tightening. It had been something they'd tell Alan and Gordon when their mother was away. She had to make short trips to a school the next state over once or twice a year. Her trips were usually a few days at most, but when the smallest ones started to miss her they would tell them that she was just next door and would be home soon.

She had been on her way home from one of these trips when they had lost her.

His grip on his little brother tightened and he buried his face in his hair. "Oh, Allie. Why didn't you ever say anything?"

"Gordon talked and Daddy snored." Alan snuggled into his brother and wrapped his arms around his brother's arms. "Too quiet here."

Virgil planted a kiss on the top of Alan's head and then rested his chin on it. "Do you know why Dad brought us here?"

Alan leaned over and looked up at his brother. "Why?"

"Among other things, to protect us. He's working on stuff that will protect everyone on this planet. He's going to become a superhero."

Alan's face lit up at that. "Is he gonna wear a cape!"

Virgil laughed. "No, probably not. But everyone in the world is going to know his name. He's going to save a lot of people." Virgil looked down at Alan and smiled. "You know, we do have a high-tech intercom system in this house."

Alan watched as Virgil leaned over and grabbed the small round computer that was in each of their rooms.

"If you wake up again and are scared you can turn on the intercoms in any of our rooms, or if it's really bad, all of them." Virgil pushed a couple of buttons and there was a pause before some sounds started to come over the speaker.

At first it was just some fuzz—white noise—and then the snore of their father followed by a grunt and the clearing of his throat then silence again. There was some ruffling as someone turned in their sheets, and then some mumbling from Gordon about swimming and racing some fish.

"See. And if that doesn't help, you know you're always welcome to come crawl into bed with any of us, right."

Alan had a soft smile as he snuggled against Virgil—his eyelids drooped as he tried to stay awake. He felt his brother move him a little, laying him down and tucking him in next to him. The last thing Alan remembered was a familiar song as Virgil ran his fingers through his hair.


End file.
